Elfen Liner Notes : Cold Shot
by Gojirob
Summary: Justice is served as a set of minor characters end up wishing they'd stayed that way. To paraphrase the Beatles, the pain you take is equal to the pain you make. A Mayu-themed revenge piece.


Cold Shot

by Rob Morris

She didn't know it, but she epitomized Shakespeare's dire estimation of humanity as a set of poor players who strut and fret their short time upon the stage. Know that she will not endure past the telling of this story, and don't mourn for her overmuch.

Her name is not important to us, but the local children in and near her apartment complex gave her nicknames that were roughly equivalent to 'attitude lady', and these were polite compared to the adults forced to deal with her. When asked, the office otaku told the office queen bee that she had made an offer to him, and he had decided instead to spend the money for their date on ice cream and video games. The queen bee did it with him that night, just because the other woman knew nothing of attitude with decorum, and she wanted this to stick in her craw.

So she was not well liked, and she was also not a very attentive person. This came to be a problem the day the landlord's children were playing with their dog and she let it out to an unforgiving road. Closing the gate in question had been listed in her lease, and the landlord made it clear that she must replace the dog without missing the rent.

Attitude Lady was not happy with this, and had no desire to pay for a new puppy of the breed in question-the pounds had only mixed breeds. Growing desperate, she overheard a conversation in passing while grabbing iced coffee.

"Ani who runs the bakery stand? She says the poor thing subsists on bread crumbs-and most of those she feeds to her little puppy."

"Why is she on the streets?"

"I know the family. Something's always been wrong with the girl's mother. It got worse when that serial killer took her brother's family, a while back. Anyway, she's not on the streets, exactly. She keeps to the beachfront."

"So? If you know the family, take her in."

"Not my headache. Besides, she's probably been selling herself. Who needs pimps and johns coming to my home?"

Attitude Lady smiled a smile she firmly believed to be the cruelest in the world. In fact, it was only the third or fourth cruelest. She now had a plan in mind to spare her funds and shut the landlord and his brats up.

At first the girl was nowhere to be found. The bakery merchant-whose goods were simply never as fresh as she claimed-said that maybe she had found a local home to take her in. But Attitude Lady's desperation made her capable of patience, and soon it paid off. The girl and her prized possession at last put in an appearance. It was showtime.

A name was selected, one that was non-Japanese in order to imply knowledge and ownership of a unique product.

"James! I've been looking for you forever!"

A cruel accusation and insinuation would keep the girl from following.

"Did you steal him? Stay away from our dog!"

She added the 'our' in at the last moment, implying she was not as alone as she seemed. The little wretch made a request that was shot down in flames.

"You're filthy-look at you. Why would I let you touch my dog ever again?"

Without a backward glance, she took the pup from one brat to placate a few others. The little baka was already homeless-why should she herself end up that way? Besides, now she could feed herself more easily. Attitude Lady told herself she had done the girl a favor, and then thought nothing more of her.

With 'James' firmly in hand, she made for the train station, the quickest route back to her part of town. She almost dropped the dog when her rear cheeks were squeezed and caressed.

"Don't scream-you'll only draw attention to yourself. This can all go very smoothly, and I can make you feel very good-"

"MOLESTER! MOOOOLESSTER!"

An unwillingness to speak up loudly had never and would never be counted among the faults of Attitude Lady. The police were nearby and quick to intervene. The man was almost slick enough to earn her admiration.

"No-no, officers! I was just asking if this kind lady had seen my stepdaughter, who's run away from home. I guess I'm so worried about her, I may have said something improper."

The older of the two officers shook his head.

"Right now, I would be taking you in even if I didn't know on my own that you have a long list of prior arrests."

"Really-I have a wife and a stepdaughter who's a runaway."

"We'll check the missing persons reports-if one has been filed. Your stepdaughter is lucky if she has run off-and any woman who'd marry you has a large piece of their brain if not their soul missing."

The younger officer turned to Attitude Lady.

"Ma'am-we'll need you to file charges against this lowlife. The judge will not be happy to see him again."

Attitude Lady looked around. She had indeed dropped something when she was assaulted.

"My-my dog-I have to locate my dog. He's run off."

The junior officer took over the man's arrest while the elder all but pushed Attitude Lady along. He was not letting the Chikan-and-worse slip through justice again.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll find his stepdaughter along with your dog."

At the station, Attitude Lady was given short shrift on her missing dog. Worse still, she found she was not the only one with an attitude.

"You make wild and insane accusations against my husband?"

A punching and scratching match followed, and then the other woman, sporting a scar on her right hand, broke down in tears demanding of her husband an answer to why he would leave her alone like this. Attitude Lady had to snicker when the molester declared a total disinterest in either her tears or her fate.

That was of course, just before the woman again attacked her, slamming her head into the floor several times.

When she woke up hours later, she saw her bandaged head in a mirror and the whole point of her being at the station rendered moot. An officer from some sort of special unit was ranting.

"She tears two of our own to bloody pieces, and now we can't even have the lead on pursuing that teenaged demon?"

In an uncaring mood, the nearby molester chuckled.

"Talk to me, officer. I know how to handle little girls."

If the man thought being under arrest and on his way to trial was some sort of force field, the five bullets the enraged officer unloaded into him ended that along with his life.

Her worst evening ever at an end, Attitude Lady did not bother seeing her landlord again, instead gathering her things and living as she could. In the weeks that followed, she arrived early and stayed late at the office, trying desperately to keep up appearances.

The only good news she received was that the hateful bitch who attacked her had been forced to sell her home and leave the area, fearing vengeance from families that now knew what her late husband had been. She had quickly cut every possible tie she had to the town. One story had her even selling herself, though Attitude Lady could not imagine a price low enough and a man or woman desperate enough to make that happen.

She now walked the streets at night, hoping to scam a meal or temporary shelter beyond the degrading and vulnerable environment of her storage unit. She swore that if she ever saw that same little girl again, she would shove her and her puppy into the concrete and smile as she was run over.

Never very attentive, she bumped into someone and sneered.

"You mind what you're doing, where you're walking!"

The coldest pair of eyes Attitude Lady had ever seen now regarded her.

"Do you have a headache?"

The girl's hair was some kind of punker shading, and she wore what almost looked like a medieval jester's hat from the European courts of centuries back.

"What kind of a question is that? Are you trying to change the subject on your clumsiness and rudeness? No, I don't have a headache."

Attitude Lady clutched at her forehead, where indeed enormous pressure had built up without warning, and this is the end of her story, except for the words said next by the odd girl who had stared her down and now watched calmly as she fell down.

"My mistake, then."

EPILOGUE ONE - KAEDE INN

The young man with problems of his own had gained a crucial insight into the life of one he had quickly come to care about.

"What are you reading about in that newspaper? You've had your eyes glued on it."

Kouta folded up the paper and threw it into his room.

"You're right, Mayu-Chan-and I should be cleaning while Yuka and Nyu are at the store."

"But Kouta-San-what was so interesting?"

He scrubbed and mopped the bathroom floor where Nyu had 'missed' more than once while he responded.

"Just some lowlife on a train who bothered someone and got what was coming to them. I always think people should enjoy peaceful train rides. I thought I recognized the name of his wife as someone I know-but I think now I was wrong.

Mayu smiled. The man who had given her a home would move up and down in her estimation, but her life now was just so wonderful.

And as always, she had Wanta.

EPILOGUE 2

"Children-I don't think that woman can afford to buy you a new dog, and rents have been hard to collect this year."

The oldest of them spoke for the others.

"It's all right, Father. Maybe it's better this way. Taking care of our old dog was a lot of responsibility-so you can tell her she's off the hook."

The youngest of them looked around.

"Where is she, anyway? I always liked her."

THE END


End file.
